Why is Interdisciplinary Research Hard? Diagnosing Differences among Disciplinary

Worldviews

Stephen Crowley (Boise State)

The Toolbox Project - http://toolbox-project.org/

Summer Research Community – 10 TalksBoise, ID

June 18th 2015

The PlanWhat am I talking about?

DisciplinesResearch

Today’s PuzzleA question for all y’all

Some TheoryWordviews ….

Dealing with this ChallengeA Metaphor

What is Interdisciplinary Research?

DisciplineA way of thinking about the worldE.g. Physics, Sociology, Graphic Design etcNeed not be academic

ResearchThe creation of new knowledge

Interdisciplinary ResearchCreation of new knowledge involving more than 1

way of thinking about the world

More on Interdisciplinary Research …

ImportantClimate Change, Food Security etc

Fun – by observationHard – again by observation

Hofstadter's Law: It always takes longer than you expect, even when you take

into account Hofstadter's Law.

Why is it hard?Multiple Reasons1 Reason – different ways of thinking

A Question …Validation of evidence requires replication.

Disagree Agree 1 2 3 4 5 I don’t know N/A

What Does our Question Teach Us?

Our exampleConfirmation – i.e. when to trust your work

Other examples?Motivation, Methodology, Models, Values etc.

ExplanationDifferent training = Different ways of workingCall your style of working your ‘Worldview’

E.g. Kuhn’s Paradigms

Who is Right?Everyone?

How?

A Metaphor ….Imagine you are looking at a shadow on a flat

surface – some of you see a ‘G’, some an ‘E’ and some a ‘B’….

Someone needs an optometrist – right? Or not ….

Another Point of View …

Wrap UpThanks to all my collaborators!

Some ResourcesToolbox Project

http://toolbox-project.org/ NCI’s Toolkit

https://www.teamsciencetoolkit.cancer.gov/Public/Home.aspx

Association for Interdisciplinary Studieshttp://wwwp.oakland.edu/ais/

… and many more – drop me a line if you’d like more infoStephen Crowley – stephencrowley@boisestate.edu